English Department Grading Policy

The English Department is dedicated to providing students with on-going feedback and opportunities to demonstrate their skills in English class. To this end, grades will reflect both formative and summative assessments. Teachers should also be able to clearly communicate a student’s skill level to students and parents using grades, notes, and assignment categories in Zangle.

Formative assessments (assessments that aid in learning) are designed to give students practice and feedback on the skills introduced, reinforced, and refined during the course of a unit of study. Formative assessments are generally completion grades and include daily work, homework, discussions, small group activities, informal checks for understanding, etc. Teachers will use formative assessments to evaluate students’ progress at regular intervals, modify instruction, and determine the degree to which students understand and can demonstrate skills and content knowledge. Because of this, formative assessments may be submitted for credit and feedback after the assignment is due, as long as the skills are still relevant to the unit of study.

Summative assessments (assessments that measure learning over time) are designed to be comprehensive in nature and to assess the student’s level of learning at the end of a unit of study. Summative assessments require students to demonstrate mastery; therefore, students are provided ample time and feedback to prepare for these assessments, which may include exams, tests, projects, essays and writing portfolios. Summative assessments are graded against criterion so as to measure the student’s achievement against the criteria and not against other students. Summative assessments that are turned in late will be subject to penalty.

Zeroes in the grade book are meant to signal to students and parents that assignments (either formative or summative) are missing. Missing assignments can be made up and turned in, depending on whether the assignment is formative or summative. In many cases, formative assessments can be turned in for full credit after the due date. However, students may not be able to pass a course without completion of the summative assessments; therefore, if the summative assessments are not turned in by the end of the semester, the student will receive an incomplete for the class until they’ve demonstrated mastery over the skills of the unit of study. Plans for completion of course skills, including timelines, will be established between the teacher and the student in the case of an “I.” Students and parents should contact the teacher for further clarification on a zero in the grade book.

Student Responsibilities include regularly checking their grades in Zangle, and checking their teachers’ webpages (myteacherpages.com) for syllabi, homework and expectations. Students are also responsible for being self-advocates. For instance, after an absence, it is the student’s responsibility to ask for missed assignments and to turn in those assignments on the day after an absence. Students have the amount of time they were absent plus one day to submit work on time. If a student misses class on the day a summative assessment is due, he/she should make every attempt to get that assessment in on time. If a student misses class due to a field trip or other school-related absences, he/she should inform the teacher in advance, and turn work in before the absence. We will follow the District policy as outlined in the Palmer Planner regarding credit for work missed due to excused and unexcused absences.